IA901 2012 Session Six

From words to phrases

need20% modal

40% not modal40% not sure

will60% modal

40% not sure

had better

60% modal40% not modal

dare20% modal

40% not modal40% not sure

1st place in complex verb phrase

Do not co-occur Used as operators in formation of questions and negatives

mustYou must have been exhausted.

*You will must be exhausted.

You must not…Must you…?

have toYou will have to apply for a visa.

You will have to apply for a visa.

You don’t have to…Do you have to…?

wouldI would have made a cake if I’d known.

*I would should have made a cake.

I would not…Would you…?

used to*She used to be living in Cambridge.

*She might used to live in Cambridge.

I didn’t use to…Did you use to…?

couldYou could have been killed!

* You could may have been killed!

You could not…Could you…?

be able toI should be able to help you with that.

I should be able to help you with that.

I’m able to…Are you able to…?

The difference between MUST and HAVE TO

Which suggestion do you prefer?

a) "Must" is more subjective when indicating obligations and necessity, while "have to " is more objective which indicates being forced by the external conditions.

b) Must has no tense. 2. When you say you must do something, you mean you feel you have the obligation to do, while have to means you are not willing to do but have no choice.

c) Must expresses stronger sense than have to. Have to sounds suggesting.

d) Must sounds more strong, more insistent than have to.

Can grammar help?

1. Freedom of Information requests must be in writing.

2. Legally, children must start formal education no later than thebeginning of the school term following their fifth birthday.

3. These questions are not meant to alarm you. We have to ask these questions to ensure that anyone who does visit the website for advice on what could be a life-threatening condition is given the right advice immediately.

MUST = IT IS NECESSARY TO…

HAVE TO = IT IS NECESSARY TO…

Can grammar help?

1. Discriminatory questions, eg questions in relation to childcare arrangements, future plans for a family and trade union duties must not be asked.

IT IS NECESSARY NOT TO… 2. You don’t have to give up alcohol completely to be emotionally

healthy, but avoid drinking more than the recommended limit.

3. You don't have to interrupt your labour to go into hospital

IT IS NOT NECESSARY…

The difference between DIDN’T NEED TO and NEEDN’T HAVE…

Which suggestion do you prefer?

a) I don't know.

b) Expressing the tense, maybe.

c) The difference is based on the following content of the sentence. For example: 1) You didn't need to buy the book. You can borrow it from the library or I can lend you one. 2) You needn't have bought the book, but you bought one!

d) You needn‘t have means you don't have to do but you did. You didn't need to means you needn't to do, here need is not used as a modal verb.

e) Didn't need to is not modal and you needn't have IS. The non-modal meaning is factual; the modal meaning is an interpretation made from the present perspective. Perhaps you only realise now that it wasn’t necessary.

The difference between USED TO and WOULD when referring to the past…

Which suggestion do you prefer?

a) I don't know.

b) They both show an action happened in the past.

c) WOULD can be used when it refers to any repeated action in the past. For example, "He drank a lot last night and would go to the toilet many times." USED TO is modified past habits that continued for a long time. For instance, "He used to jog in the morning everyday in those five years.“

d) It's the past form of WILL, where WILL is expressing certainty about an action based on "the normal state of affairs". So just as I might say "my Brazilian relatives will be having lunch now" (because it's normal for them to have lunch at this time) I can refer to typical past actions with "my Grandfather would often fall asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand". "Used to" would express something very similar here, but only because "fall asleep" has a dynamic meaning. By definition, a state cannot be something that happens in the normal course of events, since states are beyond the realm of events, so “I used to live in London” does not have the same meaning as “I would live in London”.

The difference between COULD and WAS ABLE TO…

Which suggestion do you prefer?

a) Really?

b) I am not sure about this one. But in my opinion, in the latter situation, "be able to" suggests a kind of struggle to achieve the goal while "could" suggests a kind of possibility. Why not look up the dictionary or google it on the net?

c) COULD refers to general, not specific ability in the past (or in the present ). BE ABLE TO is not modal, and so can express more specific facts. I either managed it or I didn't. Picasso famously claimed that when he was a child, he could paint like Raphael. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he did paint like Raphael. “I was able to finish the assignment on time” suggests that I did indeed finish it.

d) “May be it's because of the verb "finish" it's a verb with a conclusion. so......I don't know.

e) Finish" is an accomplishment word. "I was able to ~" shows that the person finished the essay, but "I could finish ~" expresses a certain possibility that the person might not finished the essay.

1. Descriptions of LEXICAL ASPECT suggest that we cannot ignore vocabulary

when we discuss grammar.

2. Descriptions of MOOD suggest that grammar can help us to understand subtle

differences between vocabulary items.

3. CONTEXT is ALWAYS vitally important.

Emerging themes

Most traditional grammar lessons involve patterns of the verb phrase, loosely

“the tenses”. Traditionally, little or no attention has been paid to the grammar of

the noun phrase. However, examination of naturally occurring (non-narrative)

texts show that one of the defining features of such texts is the preponderance of

complex noun-phrases:(Lewis, 2000 p146)

Recent technological developments in the management of financially sensitive information have demonstrated the importance of finding ways of controlling the means of access to such information.

Knowledge of data management is essential for graduates of any discipline who hope to work in those areas of the economy which currently have the greatest chance of growth during the first half of the next decade.

What might a learner needs to know about a NOUN in order to use it successfully? (note the use of “might”!)

Countability

Students are often introduced to a word like COFFEE as an uncountable noun (or mass or non-count noun). How, then, can we explain the fact that in an English-speaking environment, students may well find themselves invited for “a coffee”? Which of the following options do you consider to be the most satisfactory explanation:

a) It’s ellipsis. People mean “a cup of coffee”, but they sometimes just don’t say “a cup of”.

b) All nouns can be either countable or uncountable. c) Homonymy! The countable form of coffee is one noun, and the

uncountable form is another. They’re two different words.d) It’s not useful to think about countable and uncountable nouns. It’s much

better to think about countable and uncountable contexts.e) A product that you can buy in a shop is always countable. The ingredients

are uncountable.f) It’s too difficult to explain.

Feel free to suggest other options!

INDIVIDUATION “The distinctive conceptual properties of an individual unit are that it has clear boundaries and that no part of the unit equals the whole”

(Yule, 1998)

INDIVIDUATION :“the key to the use of the indefinite article in English” (Yule, 1998)

Countability and articles

1. hour

2. uniform

3. Iowa

4. beer

5. habit

6. Jane

7. people in this room

8. ants

9. uncle

10.fear

From Yule (1998 : 25)

1. hour

2. uniform

3. Iowa

4. beer

5. habit

6. Jane

7. people in this room

8. ants

9. uncle

10.fear

From Yule (1998 : 27)

NOUN PHRASE HEADS

We saw earlier that VERB PHRASES and NOUN PHRASES have HEADS. These are easy to identify when the phrase consists of just one word (e.g. WAKANA and MIHO in sentences 2 and 5 below, MAKES and SINGS in examples 1 and 3), but many NOUN PHRASES consist of several words.

1. Melody makes easily the best soup in Colchester

2. Wakana did not kick the poor innocent kitten.

3. Cissy sings beautifully.

4. Unfortunately, Evangelia has recently discovered the truth about English food.

5. Miho was recently interviewed by a fashion magazine.